Zimbabwe - July 31

[Tony Otim]

Mugabe has called "elections" for July 31st. I wish I had some cause to hope that this isn't going to be extremely nasty, but I'm struggling to find any.

[Andrew_S]

"Zimbabwe's elections were 'free and fair,' according to African Union election observer:"

glpo.st/1cnYfCU

[Andrew_S]

Zimbabwe interactive election map:

www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/jul/31/zimbabwe-election-results-interactive-map-mugabe-tsvangirai

[Andrew_S]

An organisation which I trust will be extremely busy over the next few hours, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission:

www.zec.gov.zw/

[Davıd Boothroyd]

One of the requirements of the SADC was that each polling station in Zimbabwe displays the results which it has counted, so that there is no easy way of hiding any counting irregularity and fixing the election that way.

[No Offence Alan]

Jul 31, 2013 22:19:53 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

One of the requirements of the SADC was that each polling station in Zimbabwe displays the results which it has counted, so that there is no easy way of hiding any counting irregularity and fixing the election that way.

A reform long overdue in the UK.

[Andrew_S]

O/T:

According to this article there are about 200k Zimbabweans legally living in the UK and about 500k undocumented immigrants:

mg.co.za/article/2013-07-26-00-diaspora-watches-poll-from-afar

[Deleted]

the results due shortly.

[Andrew_S]

Aug 1, 2013 11:26:22 GMT @ianrobo said:

the results due shortly.

Yesterday they said it would take five days for any results to be declared...

[Andrew_S]

"EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton "commends the people of Zimbabwe for turning out in large numbers to cast their votes, in what were broadly peaceful elections," a spokesman said.

"She calls upon on all parties to maintain calm and order as the results of the poll become known," he said":

www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/01/us-zimbabwe-election-eu-idUSBRE97018Y20130801?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

[Andrew_S]

Requiring 142 seats for more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament, Mugabe's party has apparently won 142:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23554443

[Deleted]

how lucky eh ?

[johnloony]

Still lots of seats to be declared.
I don't think it's "lucky" that large numbers of young voters in predominantly urban areas have been excluded from the electoral register, nor that there are 100,000 centenarians on the list.

[Andrew_S]

I'm not always in favour of a liberal immigration policy but I don't have any problem with Zimbabweans moving to the UK as a result of Mugabe's brutality.

[mboy]

A very disappointing result. Looks likely that a substantial amount of fraud has been perpetrated, but given the size of the victory it seems ZanuPF would have polled pretty well even without the fraud.

[The Bishop]

Aug 3, 2013 14:39:52 GMT mboy said:

A very disappointing result. Looks likely that a substantial amount of fraud has been perpetrated, but given the size of the victory it seems ZanuPF would have polled pretty well even without the fraud.

Yes, the contrast with last time round is pretty obvious.

[Merseymike]

While there were undoubtedly problems its very likely the rural vote turned out for Mugabe

[Richard Allen]

Aug 5, 2013 19:40:08 GMT Merseymike said:

While there were undoubtedly problems its very likely the rural vote turned out for Mugabe

The rural vote turned out for Mugabe last time and he still "lost".

The MDC have two major problems. Firstly the system and stacked against them but secondly their leader is a well meaning fool. Tsvangari possesses great personal courage but is tactically naive and lacks the spine to do what is required to oust Mugabe, he had his chance and he blew it. He should have never pulled out of the run-off in the 2008 election when Mugabe was at his weakest and the law at the time made rigging the election almost impossible. Mugabe's only recourse was to violence and intimidation and while MDC voters seemed willing to stand up to it their leader raised the white flag on their behalf.

[Merseymike]

Yes. I agree with that. The only point I was making was that it's easy to look at Mugabe and think that no one like him could ever win an election but there remains a large phalanx of support. Certainly many decided not to bother to vote at all this time. There are also genuine questions as to whether Tsangarai would be very much better.

[mboy]

Aug 11, 2013 23:19:03 GMT Richard Allen said:

Aug 5, 2013 19:40:08 GMT Merseymike said:

While there were undoubtedly problems its very likely the rural vote turned out for Mugabe

The rural vote turned out for Mugabe last time and he still "lost".

The MDC have two major problems. Firstly the system and stacked against them but secondly their leader is a well meaning fool. Tsvangari possesses great personal courage but is tactically naive and lacks the spine to do what is required to oust Mugabe, he had his chance and he blew it. He should have never pulled out of the run-off in the 2008 election when Mugabe was at his weakest and the law at the time made rigging the election almost impossible. Mugabe's only recourse was to violence and intimidation and while MDC voters seemed willing to stand up to it their leader raised the white flag on their behalf.

Yes. I will never understand why people ever think that boycotting an election is ever a good idea. It is never a good idea. This should be engraved onto the hand of every election candidate, always.